Grasshoppers in biblecal portions.

Oldcountryboy · #21 05/09/12, 07:46 PM

Really, I think if the grasshoppers do get too bad, I might just abort the gardening this summer and concentrate on catching lots of fish, crawdads, and squirrels for the freezer. I'm planning on going on a wild game meat diet and leave the domestic meats alone. For health reasons.

If I don't have to buy meat, I could just use the money to buy my vegetables at farmers markets. A win/win situation, maybe!

gila_dog · #22 05/10/12, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldcountryboy

Really, I think if the grasshoppers do get too bad, I might just abort the gardening this summer and concentrate on catching lots of fish, crawdads, and squirrels for the freezer. I'm planning on going on a wild game meat diet and leave the domestic meats alone. For health reasons.

If I don't have to buy meat, I could just use the money to buy my vegetables at farmers markets. A win/win situation, maybe!

That sounds like a good idea. But grasshopper fed chickens are wild meat. They also scratch up a garden pretty bad, but if the grasshoppers are already eating things up, so what? And dogs and other predators are a big problem with free range chickens. I think the best bug eating birds are guineas. They eat bugs and don't tear up the garden. The make a lot of racket tho.

TxMex · #23 05/10/12, 09:30 AM

I started noticing them a couple of weeks ago. I'm located just across the state line in Arkansas. There are so many little hoppers that it looks like the ground is moving.

airotciv · #24 05/10/12, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldcountryboy

Duh!!! One hundred and something days of 100 plus degrees everyday! Yep, I would say that was a heat drought. And right now, even tho the grass is green, and the trees are all leafed out in full, we are still hurting for more rain. I got a feeling it's gonna hit us again this summer as well.

I'd like to know where you all get chickens and turkeys that eat bugs only and leave the garden along. Everytime I've had free ranging chickens and garden at the same time, I would end up keeping the chickens locked up cause they were eating my garden up.

Really I probably should have invested all my money spent this spring on a garden and invested it in refurbishing my old chicken coop and fencing and bought a bunch of chickens instead. But, I didn't want to be tied down with animals when I'm wanting to do a bunch of camping this summer. I might be gone for several days at a time and I would have no one to feed and water them for me while I am gone. So chickens are out.

I would like to find chickens/ducks etc that won't eat my garden too. I have a 6' fence around my garden, that the chickens just fly over. I have never had Turkeys, but the domestic duck in a good head wind may get 2' off the ground. So, Fencing a garden, is pretty easy.

When we only had the ducks, we could leave them for 2-4 days. We would leave open the gate to thier pen, so they could free range while we were gone. We also had 3-4 kiddie pools filled with water and gave them a bale of orchard grass (local hay).

Edit: The bail of hay and kiddie pools, I had 30+ ducks at the time. If you only have 6 ducks, you don't need as much.

gila_dog · #25 05/10/12, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airotciv

I would like to find chickens/ducks etc that won't eat my garden too. I have a 6' fence around my garden, that the chickens just fly over. I have never had Turkeys, but the domestic duck in a good head wind may get 2' off the ground. So, Fencing a garden, is pretty easy.

When we only had the ducks, we could leave them for 2-4 days. We would leave open the gate to thier pen, so they could free range while we were gone. We also had 3-4 kiddie pools filled with water and gave them a bale of orchard grass (local hay).

Edit: The bail of hay and kiddie pools, I had 30+ ducks at the time. If you only have 6 ducks, you don't need as much.

To keep chickens (and probably ducks) from flying over fences trim the feathers off the back of their wings with scissors. Cut to within an inch or so of the wing. That will ground them.

airotciv · #26 05/10/12, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gila_dog

To keep chickens (and probably ducks) from flying over fences trim the feathers off the back of their wings with scissors. Cut to within an inch or so of the wing. That will ground them.

This is my problem, we have predetors and sometimes my Poltery, needs to be able to fly. I try to keep them safe, but sometimes it's up to them to escape. Can't sit with the gun all day.

Oldcountryboy · #27 05/10/12, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxMex

I started noticing them a couple of weeks ago. I'm located just across the state line in Arkansas. There are so many little hoppers that it looks like the ground is moving.

I was thinking the very same thing just this evening. I was looking for patches of them around the edge of my yard and garden and dusting the area with sevin dust. Hopefully I might be able to control them long enough to harvest my garden.

bad thing about them being so small right now is that they aren't big enough to thread on a fish hook.